The Baker Institute Student Forum (BISF) was founded in 2002 as the the preeminent public policy club at Rice University. The only club affiliated with the James A. Baker III Institute of Public Policy, BISF makes policy accessible to all undergraduates. BISF sponsors a wide array of policy-related programming: casual discussions and debates with fellow students, lectures and roundtable discussions with Baker Institute fellows and scholars, an annual undergraduate public policy competition, and the Rice Journal of Public Policy -- Rice's only undergraduate public policy journal.

Baker Institute Connection

Since its founding in 2002, the Baker Institute Student Forum has served as the connection between the Baker Institute and Rice students. Not only has the forum been a way for the Baker Institute to reach out to graduates and undergraduates, it has also played an important part in ensuring that students’ interests are reflected in the institute’s programs. We are thrilled to have such active and engaged students working with us, and the institute benefits from the unique perspectives they offer.

In addition to supporting the institute’s programs, the forum conducts its own wide range of projects. It hosts a wealth of events aimed at educating the Rice community on the critical issues, foreign and domestic, that we confront. It fosters informal debates among students. It publishes a student journal of public policy. And, with this website, the forum is broadening its outreach to the university community and beyond.

Decisions policymakers make today will shape our nation and the world for years and decades to come. I urge you to get informed and become engaged. To that end, I ask that you consider joining the Baker Institute Student Forum.

Edward P. Djerejian
Founding Director
Rice University’s Baker Institute